STEVIA COMMERICIAL CULTIVATION OF STEVIA REBAUDINA

Origin of Stevia Rebaudiana is in central Paraguay where it grows near the ponds and streams in wild conditions. Native Paraguayans have been consuming this herb in large quantities for many centuries. It was only during early fifties that Japanese stumbled upon this unique herb and took it to Japan where they have developed many varieties of this wonderful herb for large scale cultivation The leaves of this plant are 30 times sweeter than sugar , with zero calories. Where as pure extract is 300 times sweeter than sugar.

One acre of Stevia Rebaudiana cultivation would produce sweetener equivalent to 36 Acres of Sugar Cane More so the sweetness in Stevia Rebaudiana leaves is healthy and harmless .

Our life styles have changed so much over last 100 years that sweeteners ( either natural high calorie such as sugar or high potency and low calorie sweeteners such as Aspartame ( sugar free, equal etc )) have become integral part of our natural daily diet.

Due to sedentary life styles that we all tend to lead these days the incidence of obesity and diabetic conditions is constantly on increase . In India number of diabetic people in the age group of 25-45 is about 15 % and is increasing at an alarming pace.

India being largest consumer of cane sugar along with largest diabetic population in the world, Stevia is ideally poised to make significant contribution in satisfying the Indian demand of natural low calorie sweetener.

Today Stevia Rebaudiana extract accounts for 40% of the sweetener market in Eastern Block countries such as Japan Korea and Malaysia. In India Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni was introduced in Maharashtra by Sun Fruits Ltd.

Apart from uses as sweetener this wonderful herb has other medicinal virtues such as per WHO findings.

Sun Fruits have pioneered development of Stevia varieties, agronomy and processing for Indian conditions. The directors of Sun Fruit have put in 5 years of extensive research to achieve this goal.

Sun Fruits has developed three varieties of Stevia Rebaudiana having different glucoside concentrations at the same time suitable for different climatic conditions.

Sun Fruits ltd has fully developed 50 Acres of Stevia Rebaudiana cultivation in different parts of India with another 200 acres are in pipe line scheduled to be completed over next eleven months.

The demand for high quality Stevia leaves is increasing dramatically in India. Since there are one each processing units coming up in Western as well as southern states. At the same time its potential uses in contemporary Ayurvedic formulations is under active consideration by Indian Ayurvedic medicine majors.

THIS NEW CROP WOULD GIVE INDIAN FARMERS A CHOICE OF A PROFITABLE AND HEALTHY ALTERNATIVE TO SATISFY PALATES OF ETERNALLY SWEET TOOTHED INDIANS.

Today we have largest commercial cultivation of Stveia Rebaudiana Bertoni in India under our direct control in different parts of India. In following few paragraphs we are trying to elaborate different aspects of commercial cultivation of Stevia.

Climate and soil requirements : Stevia can be success fully cultivated all around the year all over India except the areas which receive snow fall or temperatures go below 5 Degree centigrade in winter. The summer temperatures actually do not effect this plants if the high summer temperatures have already been factored in the cultivation practices.

S oil : Stevia requires very good drainage any soils that retain the moisture for very long period of time are unsuitable for Stevia cultivation and should be religiously avoided. Similarly black cotton soils with very heavy clay content should also be avoided. It is mandatory that before planting each and every soil sample should be properly tested and analyzed by an expert.

Water : Stevia requires ample supply of good quality water all year around. We recommend drip irrigation system . Use of any types of sprinklers would increase the incidence of bacterial infestation.

Varieties : There are about 90 varieties of Stevia Rebaudiana developed all around world. Basically all these varieties have been developed for different climatic requirements. Many times these varieties perform strangely in different climatic conditions. At the end of the day just like sugar cane it is the Steviocide and Rebaudiocide content in the Stevia leaves that determines the price and marketability of Stevia leaves. In many cases in south India it was observed that steviocide content was as low as 3.5 % which was below the minimum market requirement of 9% . Hence it becomes imperative that the grower select proper varieties with adequate guarantees from the planting material suppliers about minimum assured Steviocide and Rebaudiocide contents.

Planting Material : There are basically two options for multiplication. The first is the tissue culture and second the stem cutting. The tissue culture is the best option. But many farmers are tempted to try the stem cutting method for multiplication. Here our experience shows that stem cutting is some times more expensive to produce than the tissue culture since the success rate of the stem cuttings establishment is very low , it takes minimum of 25 weeks for the stem cutting to develop in proper feeding roots for transplantation ( we have seen that younger stem cuttings transplants have shown more than 50% mortality n first few weeks of transplantation in main field). It is also our experience that Steviocide content of the stem cutting plants is lower by at least 2 percentage points in Indian conditions.

Planting material price : There are many type of pricing polices that have been adopted by various companies . In the year 2002 the price of 16 Rupees per plant was quoted by some companies. But Sun Fruits has been offering excellent quality plants at reasonable price of Rupees five per plant since the year 2002.(Sun fruits also guarantees 100 percent establishment and minimum average Steviocide content of 9%).

Planting : Stevia can be planted in many ways . The type of agronomic practices generally depend on type of soil and climatic conditions. Generally it is advisable to plant minimum of 40,000 plants per Acre. Since the economical parts is the leaves it is very important to achieve highest vegetative growth. Some people advice 30,000 plant we believe that is a compromise figure just to bring down the cost of plantation.

Fertigation : Stevia although mentioned as low feeder our experience shows that Stevia requires regular nutrients for optimum growth. The exact Fertigation schedule can only be recommended along with the soil test report. How ever we would like to emphasize that the key to success of Stevia plantation is the appropriate Fertigation schedule that would ensure optimum yields with highest Steviocide content.

Harvesting : Depending on climatic conditions we can achieve the yields of 2000-4000 kilos in three to six harvests annually. Sun Fruits is testing a mechanical harvester for harvesting Stevia leaves. Another important aspect of harvesting is the timming of harvest. It should be noted that AT NO POINT OF TIME PLANTS HSOULD BE ALLOWED TO FLOWER SINCE AFTER FLOWERING THE STEVIOCIDE PERCENTAGE GOES DOWN RAPIDLY AND LEAVES ARE RENDERED UNMARKETABLE.

Marketing : Stevia is relatively new to Indian market. Hence there is plenty of confusion with regard to marketing of this unique product. There are some farmers insist on buy back arrangement . There are reputed business houses those offer buy back @ of 60-70 Rs per kilo. We feel that this price is on lower side, on an average the farmer should get a price of Rupees 100 to break even in first year.

Unlike many other herbs like Musali that have limited and undefined use Stevia is being readily accepted by Indian consumer as a replacement for sugar.

In Pune where we are based we started of with small local sale of 20 kilos per month (nine months ago )today our local sales volumes are more than 500 kilos per month and growing ! We feel hat this example can be imitated in most of the Indian towns and cities.

Similarly there are many corporates in western as well as southern India who are at the verge of setting up extraction units but are waiting for the production to increase

International markets : There is growing international market for Stevia as well . There are offers to buy container loads of Stveia leaves at a price of two-five dollars per kilo. As mentioned earlier international demand is only for high quality Stevia leaves having minimum 9 % Steviocide content. There is no buyer for Stevia leaves having less than 8% Steviocide content.

Over view : Stevia cultivation can be a success full venture provided we are able to produce high quality leaves having minimum Steviocide content of 9% at the same time produce optimum quantity of marketable leaves per Acre to keep the production cost below 25 Rs per kilo on five years basis.

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